Polybotes
One of the Giants who fought the gods in the Gigantomachy, pursued by Poseidon across the sea and finally crushed beneath the island of Nisyros, which Poseidon broke off from the island of Cos.
The Myth of Polybotes
The Gigantomachy — the war between the Giants and the Olympian gods — required the gods to fight alongside a mortal hero (Heracles) because fate decreed the Giants could only be killed by a mortal's hand. Polybotes was a giant of particular ferocity who fled Poseidon's pursuit across the sea. Poseidon broke off a chunk of the island of Cos and hurled it at him, pinning him beneath what became the island of Nisyros. Some ancient sources said the volcanic activity and hot springs on Nisyros were caused by the giant's continued struggles beneath the rock. This explains both the island's origin and its geological features — a characteristic double function of Greek aetiological myth. Strabo and other geographers noted the tradition about Polybotes at Nisyros.
Parents
Gaia,Ouranos (born from)
Symbols
Fun Fact
The volcanic hot springs on the island of Nisyros were explained in antiquity as the breath and heat of Polybotes still struggling beneath the rock Poseidon dropped on him — geology as mythology.
Explore Further
Alcyoneus
🐉 creaturegiants
The mightiest of the Gigantes, immortal within his homeland, who stole the cattle of Helios
Gegenees
🐉 creaturegiants
Six-armed earth-born giants who attacked the Argonauts on Bear Mountain
Briareos
🐉 creaturegiants,sea
One of the Hecatoncheires (Hundred-Handed Giants), beings of immense power with fifty heads and one hundred arms, allies of Zeus in the Titanomachy.
Cyclops
🐉 creatureOne-eyed giant
Race of one-eyed giants. The original three Cyclopes forged Zeus's thunderbolts; later Cyclopes were savage shepherds, the most famous being Polyphemus.
Cyclopes
🐉 creaturesmithing, monstrous
One-eyed giants who existed in two distinct traditions: divine craftsmen who forged Zeus's thunderbolts, and savage pastoral giants encountered by Odysseus.
Ephialtes
🐉 creaturegigantic, rebellion
Twin brother of Otus among the Aloadae giants, whose combined assault on Olympus was among the most audacious acts of defiance against the gods.
Aloadae
🐉 creaturewar,giants
Twin giants of enormous strength — Otus and Ephialtes — who attempted to storm Olympus by stacking mountains on top of one another.
Aloadae
🐉 creaturegiants, rebellion
Twin giants who grew nine fathoms each year and attempted to storm Olympus by stacking mountains, threatening the gods before Artemis or Apollo destroyed them.
Typhon
🐉 creatureMost powerful monster who challenged Zeus
Typhon was the most fearsome monster in Greek mythology — a giant with serpent heads who nearly overthrew Zeus and would have ruled the cosmos.
Hyria
🏛 placegeography
A Boeotian town where the giants Orion and Orion's origin myth was set, connected to Zeus, Poseidon, and Hermes.
Typhon
🐉 creatureFather of all monsters
The most fearsome monster in Greek mythology, who challenged Zeus for supremacy of the cosmos. Typhon was the father of many of mythology's most dangerous creatures.
Giants
🐉 creatureearth-born, warfare
Enormous earth-born warriors who waged the Gigantomachy against the Olympian gods and were defeated only with the help of a mortal hero.